An Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) is an emergency responder trained to provide medical services to the ill and injured. Once thought of as an “ambulance driver or attendant,” the modern EMT performs many more duties than in the past, and responds to many types of emergency calls, including medical emergencies, hazardous materials exposure, mass casualty/triage events, childbirth, patient transport, fires, rescues, injuries, trauma and other types of calls. EMTs may be part of an Emergency Medical Service (EMS), hospital-based EMS, fire department, or independent response team.
EMTs are trained in practical emergency medicine and skills that can be deployed within a rapid time frame. In general, EMT intervention aims to expedite the safe and timely transport of a subject (e.g., to a hospital for definitive medical care, or from one location to another).
EMTs and other emergency responders (e.g., firefighters, law enforcement individuals, etc.) often utilize evacuation and/or stair chairs to transport subjects. These chairs have been developed to assist a responder to move a subject up and/or down stairs as well as across surfaces.
Conventional stair chairs generally include a main frame comprising a seat as well as a rail assembly comprising a plurality of rollers, a track and/or other components to assist movement of the chair (e.g., supporting a subject) up and/or down stairs. Various stair chairs are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,136,888 to Bowie, Jr. et al.; 4,473,234 to Egen; 5,466,040 to Fainsztein; 5,338,048 to Medina; 5,992,935 to Duijnstee; 6,343,805 to Roy; 6,360,833 to Valencia; 6,435,538 to Ellis and Ward; 6,644,675 to Ellis and Ward; 6,648,343 to Way et al.; and 7,325,815 to Rush.
However, each of the chairs of these disclosures can be further improved. For example, a chair that is more patient/subject friendly (e.g., that is easier for a subject to be loaded and unloaded onto the chair for transport); and that is more user (e.g., EMT, firefighter or other type of emergency responder that uses a chair to transport a patient) friendly (e.g., easier for a user to load and unload a subject, to secure a patient/subject transported by a chair to the chair (e.g., for the safety of the subject and/or emergency responder)); and that provides features that assist emergency responders to perform their job efficiently and effectively) would be beneficial.